DE9406026U1 - Hygiene tissue - Google Patents

Abstract

A cellulose cloth for hygiene comprises at least two layers of tissue (6, 7, 8, 9) with an embossed pattern (2, 2') consisting of a plurality of individual spot-shaped impressions (3) which deform and mutually connect the layers of tissue (6 to 9) transversely to the layer direction. The impressions (3) are formed by embossed spots (10, 11) which originate from the two outer layers of tissue (6, 9) and are curved concavely inwardly in each case and which are mutually aligned transversely to the layer direction and in whose head-to-head base regions (12) the tissue layers (6 to 9) are connected to one another by the embossing action.

Description

VP-SCHICKEDANZ AG, Schoppershof Strasse 80, 90489 Nuremberg

Hygienic cellulose cloth

The invention relates to a hygienic cellulose wipe with the features specified in the preamble of claim 1.

Hygienic cellulose wipes, such as those known and commonly used as handkerchiefs, cosmetic wipes, household wipes, etc., generally consist of several tissue layers that are connected to one another by an embossed pattern on the edges. Such embossed patterns consist of a large number of individual, point-shaped impressions that deform the tissue layers transversely to the direction of the layers.

Traditionally, these impressions are made from one side of the cellulose cloth using an embossing roller that works against a smooth, possibly flexible counter roller. This method is known as random embossing. It is also possible to work with a pair of steel rollers consisting of a male and female roller in the so-called union embossing process. In both random embossing and union embossing, the impressions are concavely curved inwards on one side of the cellulose cloth, but protrude in a correspondingly convex manner on the other side of the cloth.

The known embossing technique discussed above has various disadvantages. The cloth acquires a rough character in the area of the raised embossings, which significantly impairs the typical application requirements of hygiene cellulose cloths, such as softness and skin-friendliness. In order to keep these impairments as low as possible,

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hold, the embossings on known hygiene cellulose wipes remain limited to a narrow edge area. On the one hand, this limits the durability of the connection between the individual tissue layers, since there should be no embossings at all over the large central area of the wipe. On the other hand, the design freedom for the embossed pattern, which serves as a design element in addition to its connecting function, is also significantly limited.

Furthermore, the one-sided embossing on the well-known cellulose wipes is very bulky due to its protrusion on the back of the wipe, so that a folded wipe with such embossing requires more space.

The invention is based on the object of creating a hygiene cellulose wipe with a greatly improved embossing.

This task is solved by the features specified in the characterizing part of claim 1. The main difference from the prior art is that the embossings are no longer applied on one side, but on both sides and are formed from embossing points that extend from the two outer tissue layers and are concavely curved inwards. These are aligned with one another transversely to the direction of the layers, i.e. their inner base areas are head to head, so that the tissue layers are connected to one another there by the embossing pressure.

Due to this inventive design of the embossings, the cellulose cloth no longer has any embossed areas that protrude above the outer tissue layers. The roughening effect mentioned at the beginning is thereby avoided. This means that the cloth is particularly soft and skin-friendly. Furthermore, due to this design, the embossings can be provided in any design not only in the edge area, but practically over the entire surface of the cellulose cloth. The embossing pattern thus represents a freely configurable design element. An embossed connection of the tissue layers that is not limited to the edge area can also be achieved, so that the layer composite of the tissue

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ches is significantly improved compared to the state of the art. Another advantage of the cellulose wipes according to the invention is that the embossings are no longer noticeable, so that the space required for a stack of such folded cellulose wipes is no longer dependent on the embossing, but only on the degree of smoothing of the wipes - i.e. on the thickness of the tissue layers achieved by appropriate calendering. This means that in practice the volume of a standard pack of ten of such hygiene cellulose wipes can be reduced by around 20% to 50%.

Further features, details and advantages of the invention can be found in the dependent claims and the following description, in which an embodiment of the subject matter of the invention is explained in more detail using the attached figures. They show

Fig. 1 partial top views of hygiene cellulose wipes with different embossed patterns,

Fig. 2 a greatly enlarged schematic section transverse to the layer direction through a hygiene cellulose wipe according to the prior art and according to the invention,

Fig. 3 shows a schematic section through an embossing tool for a hygiene cellulose wipe according to the invention and

Fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the embossing nubs of the embossing tool.

In Fig. 1, two hygiene cellulose wipes 1 are shown in detail, such as those used as disposable handkerchiefs, for example. The two wipes shown have different embossings 2, 2', both of which are formed from a large number of individual point-shaped embossings 3. The embossings 3 in the embossing pattern 2 of the hygiene cellulose wipe 1 shown at the top left form curved, overlapping

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supporting beams. The embossed pattern 2' of the cellulose cloth shown at the bottom right &Ggr; is formed by embossings 3 arranged in wavy lines. Both embossed patterns 2, 2' extend beyond a narrow edge area 4 of the cloth 1, &Ggr; into its central surface area

5, whereby the embossed patterns 2, 2' - as is not shown - can also cover the entire surface of the cellulose wipes 1, Γ. The edge area 4 indicates the width to which the previously used edge-side embossed patterns in cellulose wipes according to the state of the art were usually limited.

Fig. 2 serves to explain in more detail the difference between a cellulose cloth according to the invention (shown in the right part of Fig. 2) and the prior art (shown in the left part of Fig. 2). Basically, the cellulose cloth 1 consists of, for example, four individual tissue layers 6, 7, 8, 9, each with a basis weight of approx. 15 g/m . The layers 6-9 are connected to one another by the embossings 3, in which the tissue layers 6-9 are deformed transversely to the layer direction and adhered to one another by the embossing pressure.

As can be seen from the right-hand part of Fig. 2, the embossings in the cellulose cloth 1 according to the invention are each formed by two embossing points 10, 11, which are aligned with each other transversely to the layer direction and each curve concavely inwards starting from the two outer tissue layers 6, 9. The inner tissue layers 7, 8 are enclosed. The embossing points 10, 11 are introduced in such a way that the tissue layers

6 - 9 in the base area 12 of the embossing points 10, 11 are squeezed together by the embossing effect and are thus permanently connected.

In the left part of Fig. 2, the embossings 3' are shown according to the state of the art. Here, an embossing point 10' is introduced into the cloth from one side of the cellulose cloth, i.e. starting from the tissue layer 6, for example. As a result, the cloth shows a convex bulge 13 on the opposite side.

As is clear from a comparison of the left and right sides of Fig. 2, the cellulose cloth 1 according to the invention with the embossed points 10, 11 on both sides remains smooth on both sides, since it does not show any bulges. In this respect, the cellulose cloth does not have a different front and back side, as is the case with the cloth according to the prior art. Furthermore, the effective thickness of the cloth is not increased by the embossed points 10, 11, as is the case with the prior art. As is clear from Fig. 2, left part, the cloth according to the prior art has an effective thickness D, which is significantly increased by the bulges 13 of the embossed points 10'. The thickness d of the cellulose cloth according to the invention, on the other hand, only depends on the degree of smoothing of the individual tissue layers 6 - 9.

The embossing process for introducing the embossing points 10, 11 into the cellulose cloth 1 is clear from Fig. 3 and 4. A pair of embossing rollers 14, 15 is used as the embossing tool, each of which has embossing knobs 17 arranged on its outer surface 16 in a congruent manner corresponding to the respective embossing pattern. The embossing rollers 14, 15 are arranged and controlled in such a way that the embossing knobs 17 are exactly head-to-head with respect to one another, without touching one another. Between the end faces 18 of the embossing knobs 17, a distance of a fraction of a millimeter remains in the embossing gap 19 through which the multi-layer, unembossed cellulose cloth 1 is passed. This distance is set so that the tissue layers 6-9 are squashed together when they are passed through the embossing gap 19. Furthermore, the two embossing rollers 14, 15 are made of stainless steel, and are therefore inherently rigid. With a correspondingly precise arrangement and control of the embossing rollers 14, 15, a more reproducible embossing result is achieved than with the state of the art, which works with a profiled embossing roller and a smooth, flexible counter roller, into which the embossing nubs of the embossing roller are pressed.

As can be seen from Fig. 4, the individual embossed nubs 17 are approximately truncated cone-shaped, with the transitions 21 from the shell

surface 16 or front side 18 into the flanks 22 of the embossing knobs are smooth and rounded. This ensures that the embossing process is gentle on the material.

Claims (6)

- 7 claims 1. Hygiene cellulose cloth made of at least two tissue lengths (6, 7, 8, 9) with an embossed pattern (2, 2') consisting of a plurality of individual point-shaped impressions (3) which deform the tissue layers (6 - 9) transversely to the direction of the layers and connect them to one another, characterized in that the impressions (3) are formed by embossed points (10, 11) which are concavely curved inwards and start from the two outer tissue layers (6, 9), which are aligned with one another transversely to the direction of the layers and in whose head-to-head bottom regions (12) the tissue layers (6 - 9) are connected to one another by the embossing effect. 2. Hygienic cellulose cloth according to claim 1, characterized in that the tissue layers (6 - 9) are squeezed together in the area of the embossing points (10, 11). 3. Hygienic cellulose cloth according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the embossed pattern (2, T) extends beyond an edge region (4) of the cloth (1) into its central surface region (5). 4. Hygienic cellulose cloth according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the embossing points (10, 11) are introduced into the cloth (1, &Ggr;) by a pair of embossing rollers (14, 15) with embossing knobs (17) which are arranged head-to-head to one another and work in a mutually contactless manner. 5. Hygienic cellulose cloth according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the tissue layers (6 - 9) in the region of the embossing points (10, 11) are each curved inwards in a substantially frustoconical manner. 6. Hygiene cellulose cloth according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the tissue layers (6 to 9) can be calendered to a thickness (d) independent of the embossings (3).